Undecided Voters, Vote Switchers, Media Use, and Information Holding in a Congressional and a Presidential Campaign.

Autor/inn/en	Atwood, L. Erwin; Kuang, Sunshine C.
Titel	Undecided Voters, Vote Switchers, Media Use, and Information Holding in a Congressional and a Presidential Campaign.
Quelle	(1979), (23 Seiten)Verfügbarkeit
Beigaben	Tabellen
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Tagungsbericht; Adults; Citizen Participation; Decision Making; Information Seeking; Knowledge Level; Mass Media; News Media; Political Attitudes; Political Issues; Political Science; Social Science Research; Voting + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? 'Citizen participation; Citizens'' participation'; Bürgerbeteiligung; Decision-making; Entscheidungsfindung; Informationserschließung; Wissensbasis; Massenmedien; Nachrichtenwesen; Political attitude; Politische Einstellung; Politischer Faktor; Staatslehre; Politikwissenschaft; Politische Wissenschaft; Social scientific research; Sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung; Abstimmung
Abstract	Data for this study of the relationship between voter status (vote switcher, undecided voter, decided voter) and political knowledge were collected from 141 respondents in five southern Illinois counties during a 1974 congressional election and from 295 respondents in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, during the 1976 presidential campaign. The study employed the reasons voters gave for voting for or against specific candidates and reported voter perceptions of campaign issues as measures of political knowledge. The findings supported earlier studies regarding the differences in knowledge levels between decided and undecided voters for both candidate and issue knowledge. No significant difference in candidate knowledge levels was found between switchers and nonswitchers in either the congressional or the presidential campaigns. Those who did not switch candidate preference in the 1976 campaign reported higher levels of issue knowledge than those switching candidate preferences. The relationship between knowledge level and attention to the campaign via the mass media varied with voting status and campaign. (Author/RL)
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2004/1/01